Syfy's 'Helix' renewed for second season

Syfy announced on Friday that freshman thriller Helix has been renewed for a second season.

The show premiered on Jan. 10 and has done well for Syfy on Friday nights. Helix is the top scripted drama on cable in its timeslot. The series averages 2.1 million viewers, with 1.1 million in the 25-54 adult demographic and 1 million in the advertiser important 18-49 demo.

"Helix has built one of our most loyal and consistent audiences in its first season on Syfy," Bill McGoldrick, executive vp original programming, said. "The incredibly talented writing and producing team have crafted a thriller that consistently delivered suspense, twists and high quality drama."

Helix followed a team of scientists from the CDC who were tasked with investigating a mysterious breakout at a remote base in the Arctic. Billy Campbell, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyra Zagorsky and Mark Ghanime starred.

The series was executive produced by showrunner Steven Maeda, Ronald D. Moore and Lynda Obst.

Production on the second season is set to begin later in 2014 and the series will likely return at the end of 2015. The first season ends its run on Friday.